


All the Stars in the Bright, Black Night

by MalevolentMagpie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Cat Ears, Cat Keith (Voltron), Cat/Human Hybrids, Catboy Keith (Voltron), Constellations, Fluff, M/M, Nature, Romantic Fluff, SHEITH - Freeform, Shapeshifting, Sheith Halloween 2020, Stargazing, Stars, TrickOrSheith, countryside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27259612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentMagpie/pseuds/MalevolentMagpie
Summary: When an intruder keeps breaking into Lance and Allura's home in the countryside, they invite their good (& muscular) friend Shiro to housesit. Shiro quickly falls in love with the breathtaking surroundings, as well as with a mysterious black cat and an equally mysterious black-haired boy.For Sheith Halloween 2020, Prompt Day: "Black Cat."
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 96





	All the Stars in the Bright, Black Night

A hot October afternoon stretched before Shiro like a golden blanket over the landscape. From the foot of his porch unfolded a vista of tawny hills stippled with bushes and dry, sun-kissed meadows over which the occasional red-tailed hawk would glide. As beautiful as he found the trees and the sheep and the bright blue open sky above, Shiro’s favorite sights on the farm were the elegant lines that the winged predators cut as they scanned the fields for prey.

Kosmo’s ears perked up where he lay at Shiro’s feet. Moments later, a squirrel darted across the lawn.  _ Kosmo  _ much preferred the land critters, like the squirrels and the mice and the cute little bunnies that grazed tantalizingly beyond the stretch of his leash. The songbirds were another favorite of his, such as the ones animatedly warbling on the branches above. Their constantly shifting melody was the only sound that broke the silence when the breeze died down, aside from the occasional buzzing fly and the rare, soft hoot from the owl that lived in the whitewashed barn beside the house.

Beyond the porch, the world moved in little bursts. A hawk swooping down, the flitter of an American robin, a waving branch and the hushed flutter of its falling leaf. It was all so full of life and yet so still. So different from the whirling, overstimulating doldrums of Shiro’s regular life. Was it strange to thank someone for asking you to house sit? Because with every passing moment outside of the city, the urge to do so grew within him. This trip was serving as a much-needed vacation for Shiro, and so far he had not even had to face the reason he was here in the first place. He had seen absolutely no sign of the mysterious intruder that was supposedly making use of Lance and Allura’s house when they were traveling.

Not that Shiro would know what to do if he  _ did _ see the person _. _ He was a pacifist; his muscles were entirely aesthetic – the result of a leftover heavy-workout habit from his childhood struggle against degenerative muscle disease. The linebacker build was good for only one thing and that was, apparently, helping his friends by intimidating prospective intruders. That said, the only intruder he had encountered in his first day here was a sneaky raccoon that had somehow found a way indoors. He hadn’t seemed terribly impressed by Shiro’s muscles.

Beside Shiro, Kosmo lifted his head, body tensing. 

“What is it, boy?” 

Shiro followed the wolfdog’s gaze to notice a sleek barn cat, black as midnight, sitting in the shade of the tree at the end of the pathway. Kosmo bristled. The cat stared coolly back. Shiro had half a mind to shoo it away before Kosmo could start barking, but the thought had barely manifested and already the cat was making its way up the stone tiles to where Shiro was sitting on the porch. To Shiro’s surprise, Kosmo merely tracked its movement, relaxing in increments until he was once again panting happily and paying no mind to the cat sitting directly in front of his human. Despite Kosmo’s comfort (or perhaps because of it), Shiro found himself deeply unsettled by the cat’s unflagging stare. There was something unnervingly  _ human _ about the way it regarded Shiro, as if it was assessing him. 

“H- hey there, kitty. Where did you come from?” Shiro stuttered out.

The cat tilted its head adorably, then stepped forward to sniff the fingers that Shiro offered it. Even for a cat, its movement was precise, elegant. Its deep-black fur gleamed in the sunlight, and its eyes were a blue so rich it was almost violet at the right angles. 

“You’re such a  _ pretty _ kitty, yes you are,” Shiro cooed. “You look like you should be sitting on the laps of kings, or at least a very-devoted owner that feeds you tuna every day.” 

The cat immediately met Shiro’s eyes with an intelligent gaze and froze. Ever so slowly, it sank deliberately onto its side and rolled over to show Shiro its belly. 

“Oh! What a precious sweetheart you are! Yes you are! I bet you charm all the shop owners in town,” said Shiro in singsong as he ran his hand through the downy fur of the black cat’s underside. The cat allowed him to pet its belly for a few minutes, purring the entire time, then from one moment to the next decided it had had enough, stood, and with a few parting rubs against Shiro’s leg it was gone. 

~~~

Later in the evening, Shiro received a call from Lance and Allura. 

“Hey guys! How’s the family?”

“Wonderful as always,” said Allura. 

“Annoying!” shouted Lance in the background.

Allura continued, unfazed. “How are things at the house? Seen anything strange yet?” 

“Not unless you count a raccoon looking for lodgings. I think you guys might have a hole somewhere that needs boarding up - I’ll look for it tomorrow and see if I can patch it. Other than that, no. Just settling in. Kosmo’s already tried to chase three squirrels. Oh, and I met your adorable barn cat; he’s a real sweetheart.”

“What? We don’t have a barn cat. We rely on the owl that nests in the barn to catch the vermin.” 

“Oh, it must have been a feral cat then. He was really friendly, though. Even let me pet its belly.”

“Shiro, cats don’t  _ do _ belly rubs,” Lance cut in on the other end of the line. “You’re lucky you didn’t get rabies or something. Lord knows what that thing is carrying.”

Shiro just laughed. “No way, he was the sweetest thing. You guys should’ve seen him. He’s a beauty - all black, blue eyes... Maybe he’s an indoor cat that escaped, because his fur was way too clean and he’s clearly used to humans.”

“Sure, except there aren’t any other houses for miles,” Lance replied. “Ah, Shiro we gotta go. My aunt just arrived, which means Allura and I are on babysitting duty for her triplets. Anyway, if you see any sign of whoever’s been breaking in, give us a call.”

“Of course, leave it to me.” 

~~~

Night in the country was  _ magical. _ This semi-arid region was, like the desert, swelteringly hot during the day and frigid at night, and the flat, dry land meant that the dusty wind forever buffeted one’s eyes. But this far from civilization the night sky lit up like a million jewels on dusky velvet. They shone and winked and  _ twinkled, _ actually twinkled. Shiro had always thought the imagery of twinkling stars was a romantic fabrication, but out here without the light pollution of neighboring cities, the stars honest-to-goodness  _ twinkled _ in the sky, their glow softly pulsing, dimmer and brighter, like a heartbeat. Shiro could even see the Milky Way, a vast gash in the sky, stretching clear across Earth’s dome as though it would embrace the planet. He was so entranced by the sky that he didn’t notice the person walking up to him until they spoke. 

“You’re new.”

Shiro nearly fell from where he sat perched on the porch steps. “H- hello! Sorry, you uh- you startled me.”

The stranger was a pale, slender young man with shaggy black hair that  _ just  _ managed to peek out of the cowl of an oversized dark hoodie which most definitely did not fit the man. But Shiro supposed the ‘boyfriend hoodie’ was in these days. It really suited the handsome stranger, in any case; he looked adorably small in the giant jacket.

“You’re new. I haven’t seen you around before,” the man reiterated.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry. My name is Shiro,” Shiro said, extending his hand for the man to shake. “I’m house-sitting for my friends who live here. Lance and Allura - you probably know them. Although, I could have sworn that Lance said there weren’t any other houses for miles… Where did you come from?”

The man shook his hand, then gestured to himself with a simple, “Keith.” He waved a hand ambiguously as he said, “I live in the area.”

It occurred to Shiro that there was something odd about this whole situation, but he promptly lost all thought to that regard when Keith moved deftly and without preamble to slide into a seat right next to Shiro. They were so close, Shiro could feel the heat coming from the other man’s body. It was a welcome comfort in the cold night. 

Keith was a man of few words, it seemed, for as soon as he sat down he contented himself with tilting his head back and looking up to where Shiro had been staring. The light of the stars above revealed fine features and a stubborn, determined brow that added to the fiery spark in his violet eyes. It was tempting to stare at him forever, but Shiro forced himself to return to stargazing beside his strange companion. 

“It’s beautiful out here,” said Shiro after a few minutes. “Do you also like watching the stars?”

Keith shrugged one shoulder. “Sometimes. There’s only so much to look at up there before you start getting bored. It’s always the same.”

Shiro gasped theatrically, one hand to his chest. “Bored?! But space is violent. Explosive. Dangerous, and  _ beautiful  _ in its danger!”

Keith hit him with a deadpan look that made it very difficult not to break into laughter, but Shiro was committed to his cause. He pointed up at a spot in the sky. 

“See that very, very faint smudge that we can just barely make out with the naked eye? That’s the nearest galaxy, Andromeda. As we speak, it’s hurtling towards us at incredible speeds, and in approximately 4 and a half million years it will collide with our galaxy in a spectacular explosion.” So saying, he threw his arms wide in an arc and bugged his eyes until he succeeded in getting a soft chuckle out of Keith. Bolstered, he pointed at a cluster of stars. “Those over there are the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters - in Greek mythology, they are the daughters of my favorite character, Atlas.”

Keith nodded solemnly. “The balloon.”

Shiro looked over, amused.

“But I only see six stars, not seven.”

“One of them has been fading over time, so it’s more difficult to see. You called it ‘the balloon’ - do you have names for other constellations?”

Keith nodded again and started pointing them out in turn: “The rocket ship. The kite. The whiskers. The fish.” 

“The Romans had a fish constellation too, but it’s over here,” Shiro said, outlining a different shape in the dark skies. “Pisces - my zodiac sign.” 

Keith squinted and tilted his head in a familiarly cute way. “I see absolutely no fish, and I know fish.”

Shiro laughed. “Yeah, me neither. My guess is, the people that first came up with those constellations must have been very, very drunk.” 

Keith cracked a roguish grin that went straight to Shiro’s heart.

Shiro wasn’t sure how long they spent stargazing and chatting softly into the night, but he must have dozed off at some point because in the morning he woke up tucked neatly into his bed and with a vague memory of being carried into the unlocked house by a pair of lithe and surprisingly strong arms.

All day long, Shiro found himself daydreaming about his attractive neighbor and wondering if he would come by the house during the day. Shiro hoped he would, because in all their hours of conversation Shiro hadn’t thought to get a single detail on how to reach him. No cell number, no address, not even a last name. 

Keith did not stop by during the day. Shiro’s only visitor was the beautiful black cat who laid down at his feet for an hour or so in the late afternoon. He gave him a bit of salmon and the ham from his lunch sandwich. Once night rolled around, he again bundled up against the wind and the cold and braved the elements to watch the stars. Keith showed up like clockwork, stepping out of the shadows in that silent way of his and resuming his place at Shiro’s side as if he had been born to sit there. 

In this way they passed the next few days. 

Every day, Shiro would do odd jobs about the house for Lance and Allura (including searching for that hole the raccoon had found). In the afternoons, he would sit on the porch with Kosmo and pet the roaming black kitty he had decided to nickname Akira. (When Shiro had informed him, the cat had stared him dead in the eye in a way that would have been almost creepy were Akira not such an irresistible cutie-pie.)

Every night, Keith would show up out of nowhere and watch the stars with Shiro. They would talk about outer space, and the creatures of the valley, and Shiro’s work and how much he detested the city. Keith didn’t say much about himself or what he did for work, but Shiro didn’t mind. Keith struck him as a rather private person, and Shiro knew a thing or two about wishing for privacy and space - it was what had led him to finally accept his friends’ request to take a retreat in their country home. 

Interestingly, Shiro’s desire for privacy and space did not seem to extend to Keith though. Being with Keith felt as comfortable as his own skin. Keith was thoughtful, funny, sharp. They flowed together in silence as well as they did in conversation. Shiro tried and failed not to think it: that he would happily spend the rest of his life with Keith, in whatever way he could. 

Sometimes Shiro fell asleep and Keith would end up carrying him inside and carefully tucking all 6’4” of him into bed. Sometimes Keith was the one who began nodding off, resting his head (always sporting that dark hood) against Shiro’s shoulders. At those times, Shiro would hold his breath and pray for the moment to last forever. 

One night, Shiro chose Lance and Allura’s fluffiest, warmest comforter, and headed up to the roof so he could watch the stars lying down. Eventually he heard clambering and scraping nearby, followed by soft padding. He waited for a bit, then looked around for the racoon or squirrel that must have followed him up, but was instead met with the sight of Keith hurriedly pulling the last bit of his gigantic hoodie over his head.

“Did you walk over here without your hoodie on?” exclaimed Shiro. 

Keith paused. “Uh… yeah.”

“Jesus, Keith. You must be freezing! Come here, I’ll warm you up.” Immediately after the words left his mouth, Shiro cringed internally at how suggestive they sounded. 

Keith didn’t seem to mind. He walked over to where Shiro was cocooned in his fluffy blanket, and stuck his hands right down the front opening, resting them firmly on Shiro’s pecs. “Wow, that  _ is  _ pretty warm.”

Shiro tried to focus on breathing. Keith’s hands were on him, almost squeezing his chest. Keith’s face hovered upside down above his as he bent over Shiro, blocking out the stars. Shiro didn’t care. This sight was infinitely more breathtaking. All the more so by the familiar way in which Keith had moved to touch Shiro. Trusting. As if with Shiro he felt comfortable and safe.

“It would be warmer beneath the blanket,” Shiro breathed.

Keith’s eyes met his steadily, an inscrutable expression on his countenance. “Is that so.”

Shiro nodded and opened his arms and the blanket. Without breaking eye contact, Keith slid around and sideways, slotting his slender body up against Shiro’s own, leaving no space between their legs, torsos, or chests. His cold nose, he tucked into Shiro’s neck, then he sighed out a warm puff against the skin. Shiro’s pulse raced. Blood rushed in his ears. He wrapped his arms and the warm blanket around his beloved friend and turned his eyes to the sky again, seeing nothing, feeling only Keith. 

“You know, while I was waiting for you I saw  _ four _ shooting stars.”

“Oh yeah?” said Keith, voice husky with the sudden weight of the moment.

Shiro swallowed. “On each one, I wished for... you.”

The man in his arms pushed apart just enough to meet his gaze. Then, carefully, delicately, he closed the distance between them to land a featherlight kiss. Keith’s lips were dry and chapped from the harsh arid climate. The touch was almost too light to feel. Yet Shiro’s nerves lit from within. 

“Stay here with me,” Keith whispered against his cheek. “You said you hated your job and the city. Live with me; I’ll provide for you.”

Shiro’s heart thumped in his chest. “That’s a pretty big move…” he whispered back, but his tongue refused to say anything resembling a ‘No.’ “You haven’t even told me where you live yet.”

“Here.”

Shiro laughed. “Yes, you said you lived in the area the first time we met. But I meant more specifically. In the nearest town? Are you a farmer?”

“No,  _ here,  _ as in-... Shiro…” Keith pulled back from him again, the cold air rushing in between them and making Shiro immediately miss Keith’s warmth. 

Sitting back on his haunches before Shiro, Keith slowly pulled back his ever-present black hoodie to reveal what seemed at first like extremely messy hair in the moonlight, until it twitched and two peaks popped up to become two large, black, fluffy ears. 

“Keith, what…”

Keith’s ears flattened slightly before he gifted Shiro a shy smile that scorched Shiro’s heart. “I liked it when you called me ‘Akira,’ too.”

“That’s… impossible,” Shiro whispered. It was all he could do to not drop his jaw.

Keith shrugged, a sad and pensive look on his face. “That’s why I live out here, where no one else can see me. These hills and valleys  _ are _ my home. I roam the land and live off of the critters all around us. And every now and then I slip into this house when the owners are gone, for my more human needs.”

Shiro’s gaze roved down to the gigantic, ill-fitting hoodie Keith always wore. Now that he thought about it, it looked an awful lot like the hoodie Lance had long ago borrowed from Hunk and then promptly lost…

At Shiro’s silence, Keith looked crestfallen. “I know, it’s not much of a life, what I can offer you, but I swear that I would always make sure you’re provided for and you have everything you n-” He fell silent when Shiro cradled his dear, beautiful face in both hands and leaned forward for another tender kiss.

“Any life with you is a greater treasure than all the stars in the galaxy,” murmured Shiro between showering Keith’s face and neck in gentle pecks. 

With each sweet kiss, Keith melted more into Shiro’s arms, until finally he was breathless with laughter. 

Shiro grinned right back. “Now I just have to figure out what to tell Allura and Lance about their mysterious intruder.” 

~~~

In just a few months, Lance and Allura and their wide net of connections helped Shiro find and move into a small farmstead in an adjacent plot of land. The move had required a small, complete upheaval of his professional career, but Shiro finally had a home that held his heart, his best friends were his neighbors, and, most important of all, he had Keith and Keith could stay in the wild, beautiful lands which he called home. It was difficult to know who was more thrilled by their new circumstances: Shiro or Keith, who finally had a home of his own which he could return to or leave at will when the Human or the Cat called from within. He also finally had a family, and a community, in Allura and Lance and the rest of the human world that Shiro unlocked to him. 

Shiro and Keith found in each other deep, lifelong happiness. Throughout the years, more and more trustworthy humans of the surrounding parts were honored with the knowledge of Keith’s true nature, and thus Keith and Shiro’s close family circle grew. The entire township eventually gained a reputation in their region for their close, devoted ties, as if the people there were all bonded by a common-held secret. And long after the beloved old couple was gone, the townspeople still passed on the local mythology of the cat-person of the valleys. It was said that if one met a black cat sitting by a tree, or beneath the stars, they should invite it into their homes. If the cat chose to enter, the person was soon to meet their soulmate.

THE END.


End file.
